Savage Tales of Red Sonja

 

Of course, being a fan of Conan in the 70's - and being a heterosexual male - I was also a fan of Red Sonja. Also, of course, her chain mail bikini is not very efficient or logical, but it looked good on her, so I guess that is all that mattered at the time. But, she was also an independent woman, who took no shit from any man, including Conan, much to his consternation. A skilled fighter, more so than most men, she was a warrior for hire and so encountered - and conquered - as many unlikely foes as Conan himself did - and sometimes in conjunction with him.

Many of my original Sonja comics have disappeared mysteriously over time and the ones that I have are buried in storage, but I thought I would see what has been happening with the She-Devil With a Sword since my last forays in sword'n'sorcery comic purchases. I happened upon this one and thought I would take a chance.

The artwork is nice throughout - different artists on every story but all with a similar touch and all giving the Red one an ample bosom - and the stories are kind of the usual fare for this kind of thing - Sonja fights (and always wins, natch) witches, monsters, male warriors, ghosts (there's even a Hamlet joke as she crushes a skull), would-be suitors who get too handy, the occasional woman and, worst of all, her own insecurities and doubts (and, at one point, her own self incarnate).

There's a nice twist when a put-upon barmaid is seemingly taken over by Sonja's spirit, making a diversion from the usual monsters, and one writer even makes a play on original Sonja writer, Roy Thomas' name.

I liked it overall but I suppose I wasn't knocked out by it - good fun, but nothing exceptional.